1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to silicon devices and integrated circuits, and in particular but not exclusively, relates to reading output information from a backside of a silicon device.
2. Background Information
Communication from a silicon device or integrated circuit to external components on a motherboard is typically done via use of electrical connections between the silicon and a substrate material. Examples of such electrical connections include wire bonding and controlled collapse chip carrier (C4) connections.
In instances where faster communication from the silicon device to the motherboard is needed, directed chip attachment (DCA) technology has been considered. Unfortunately, DCA technology has serious reliability issues with regards to thermal mismatches and production/inventory control.
With the ever-increasing need for high-speed applications, such as those beyond 2.5 Gbits/second, the above-mentioned electrical connections and DCA connections face severe limitations due to thermal dissipation, skin effect attenuation, jitter and noise issues, etc. Such limitations significantly degrade signal and performance characteristics associated with communication between silicon devices and external components, particularly when reading output information/signals from the silicon devices.